


Cough Syrup

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Coughing, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Sickfic, warning for vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:09:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Anyway, what a coincidence running into you like this, Haru~ Do you wanna go shopping together?" He goes to throw his arm over Haru's shoulder and Haru expertly sidesteps away. </p>
<p>"Not really," he replies. </p>
<p>"Awh, you're so cold." Kisumi pouts. </p>
<p>"And you have one, so you should be resting anyway." As though this is intended to be a goodbye, Haru starts walking away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cough Syrup

**Author's Note:**

> .//title is from the song by young the giant

Kisumi picked a bad day to go out. He's dying. 

Well, not _dying_. It's just a cold, though a bad one. His throat burns like he's gargling glass, his nose is running rivers, and his head is pounding. It wasn't this bad when he woke up and he thought powering through and enjoying the day would take his mind off of it, but it's just made it worse. He needs to go back home and sleep it off. 

Feeling melancholic and tired, Kisumi starts walking toward the train station. But a familiar face across the street stops him in his tracks and for a moment, he's so excited he forgets he feels like he's going to drop dead. 

"Haru! Haru~!" 

The swimmer glances over and Kisumi waves as he bounces across the crosswalk. He's about to glomp him, but the exercise has him breaking into a coughing fit. Though he's already wearing a face mask, he burrows his mouth into his elbow instinctively. The fit lasts for a solid two minutes and leaves his chest hurting and breathless. 

"You're sick," Haru greets bluntly. 

"Just a cold." Kisumi sniffles and dismissively waves his hand. His nose is getting sore, he bets it's bright red and he's glad Haru can't see it. It would be embarrassing displayed to anyone, but Haru is special. It's embarrassing that he feels that way. He knows he's silly for carrying a crush since middle school, but it is what it is.

"Anyway, what a coincidence running into you like this, Haru~ Do you wanna go shopping together?" He goes to throw his arm over Haru's shoulder and Haru expertly sidesteps away. 

"Not really," he replies. 

"Awh, you're so cold." Kisumi pouts. 

"And you have one, so you should be resting anyway." As though this is intended to be a goodbye, Haru starts walking away. 

Kisumi scampers after him and shimmies around to block his path, walking backwards. "C'mon, Haru. I'll buy you lunch." 

"No thank you." 

"I'll buy you dessert too." 

"No." 

Kisumi has to stop to cough again and Haru winds around him, carrying on down the street. He trots after him again, an idea lightbulb-ing over his aching head. 

"We can go to the aquarium~!" 

Haru stops. He peers at Kisumi over his shoulder and Kisumi can see he's hooked him. Triumph airily rises in his chest, the same feeling he has when he scores a basket. He grins happily. 

"I'll distract security if you want to strip and go swimming with the fishies," he promises to put the icing on the deal. 

"Fine," Haru agrees. 

Kisumi gleefully bounds over and links arms with him, dragging him into the nearest restaurant. 

* * *

 He doesn't have an appetite himself. In fact, he's beginning to feel nauseous. It's an uneasy discomfort, stirring his stomach when he glances to Haru's mackerel. He doesn't order any food for himself, only hot tea which he drinks by the gulps and refills to stifle his coughing. He doesn't want to gross Haru out while he's eating. Hard as he tries not to, he still has to sniffle a couple times, but Haru doesn't comment. He's as quiet as ever, which Kisumi finds both exasperating and endearing. 

"So it's been awhile," Kisumi tries as a conversation starter. 

Haru simply blinks and continues eating. 

"What were you doing before I ran into you?" 

"Laundry detergent was on sale." 

"DId I steal you before you could get any? I'm sorry." Kisumi gives him a look like a sheepish kitten. 

"It's fine. I'll go back after the aquarium." 

There can't be anyone in the world who loves water as much as Haru. Kisumi chuckles and can't help wincing when it sets off the coughs he's been holding in. He turns around and smothers them into his elbow the best he can. He drinks more tea when it finally subsides.

When Haru finishes his food, he doesn't want any dessert even though Kisumi offers. He drinks one last cup of tea, slips his mask back on, and then they leave. Kisumi attempts to put his arm around Haru's shoulders again, but Haru swats him away. 

"Hey, Haru~ If I were a fish, what kind of fish do you think I'd be?" 

"Octopus," Haru answers immediately. 

Kisumi tilts his head. "Why an octopus?" 

"You're too touchy-feely." 

Kisumi hangs his head dejectedly. "You're so mean." 

Haru doesn't reply and they continue their walk in silence. Well, silence aside from Kisumi's sniffling and the occasional coughing (the tea is starting to wear off, damn it) he can't suppress. Actually, Kisumi is starting to feel sicker. His head is pounding harder than ever and every step seems a little more difficult. But he'll put up with it. He hasn't spent any time alone with Haru since...middle school. Even back then, he couldn't seem to get him alone for very long at all. 

It's nice. Even feeling like there's a hammer coming down on his head can't ruin a day with Haru. He's beautiful and Kisumi could spend all day staring at him, appreciating the knowledge that he's close enough to reach out and touch, soaking in his mellow presence and searching the cool blue depths of his eyes for that smooth, unassuming passion that draws everyone to him. 

Kisumi likes to fancy that he was one of the first ones to notice it. Not the first, no, Makoto beat him to that, but maybe he's in second place. Maybe second place isn't bad. He gets to see a hint of that passion when they get to the aquarium, a sparkle in Haru's eyes as they reflect the water behind the glass. 

"Hey look," he says, grinning under his face mask as he points to an octopus crawling across the bottom of the tank. "It's me." 

Haru cracks the smallest of smiles. "You grab everything like an octopus, but I think you look more like that one." He points to what must be the ugliest creature Kisumi has ever seen, a fat pinkish-grey blobfish. 

"Hey," Kisumi protests. "I'm still really popular with the girls, you know!" He laughs, but it turns into a cough that explodes into an outbreak of them that keeps him busy for a few minutes, without pause. Haru waits for him to recover before moving on to the porpoises. 

"I read online somewhere that they can use telepathy. Do you think it's true?" Talking is starting to hurt more. Earlier it felt like rubbing his throat with sandpaper and now it feels like swallowing razorblades. 

"I'm not sure," Haru murmurs, his palm pressed lightly to the glass. "but I do believe they're more intelligent than we give them credit for. They can understand the water in a way we never will." 

Kisumi smiles fondly. Haru doesn't talk much, but when he does, he always says stuff like that. It's so weird. And adorable.

He follows Haru from tank to tank and somehow his attempts to hold conversation slip away from him. He doesn't mean to lose it, he's trying to center, but he's feeling woozy. The lights seem brighter, the fish seem closer. He's coughing again, his nose is still streaming, wait, Haru's ahead...

"Are you okay?" Haru asks, eyes narrowed only slightly. "You're really slowing down." 

"Fine," Kisumi answers. He isn't sure he means it, but he's definitely not going to cut this short. He hardly gets to see Haru, ever, and he's never alone with him. The timing isn't perfect, but he's going to take what he can get. He hurries to catch up and trails after Haru to the jellyfish tanks. They're all shaped like lava lamps and it seems like they're changing colors. 

Maybe they aren't, he's coughing again, he's dizzy. Way too dizzy, the room is spinning before his eyes and he's going to fall if he isn't already falling. He grabs onto Haru's shoulder for support. 

"Stop touching m— Hey, Kisumi!" Haru turns around and catches Kisumi as he sags forward.

Kisumi steadies himself with Haru's help, turning his head to cough away from him. 

"Tch. I'm taking you home." 

 "No," he wheezes. "It's okay, I just need to sit for a minute." 

Haru ignores his protests and hauls him up under the armpits, leading him to the exit. Kisumi feebly attempts to dig his heels in, but he falls into a coughing fit that feels like a battering ram to his chest. The world is rotating, he's shivering and his head is pounding, and he keeps coughing and stumbling alongside Haru with the wobbly gait of a newborn fawn. 

"I'm sorry, Haru," he croaks as Haru sits him down in a bench.

Haru moves Kisumi's bangs and lays the back of his hand to his forehead. Kisumi relishes in the touch even if Haru's fingers are cold. 

"You're burning up." His eyes narrow slightly. 

"Beautiful," Kisumi murmurs, focusing on those eyes, cool blue eyes shimmering with the seas and set in a smooth face so wonderfully close to his. Close enough to kiss and he really wishes he could. Maybe he would try if he wasn't contagious. 

Making a vaguely displeased noise, Haru pulls Kisumi to his feet and drags him down the sidewalk. Kisumi doesn't put up any resistance and enjoys that Haru is still touching him. 

"Where are we going?" 

"I told you, I'm taking you home." 

Kisumi wants to argue some more, ' _no, I'm fine, I'd rather stay with you,'_  but his words are killed by a coughing fit. He coughs most of the way to the subway station, so violently it draws attention. He hands his money over to Haru and Haru finds a seat no one's taken yet. Kisumi slumps into it dizzily and buries his face in his arms. 

Haru sits next to him and doesn't push Kisumi away when Kisumi leans against him. He keeps his head down and sneezes, a quick, _"ich-shoo!"_

He tries to hold in the coughing and fails miserably. The next stop is the one they get off at, and it doesn't occur to Kisumi that it's not his stop until Haru starts herding him—coughing and shivering—toward steps he doesn't recognize. 

"Wait," he mumbles, squinting in confusion through watery eyes. "This isn't my house..." 

"No," says Haru. "It's mine." 

Kisumi's heart skips a beat. "Yours?"

Haru shrugs, steering Kisumi along. "You didn't seem like you could give me a coherent address if I asked.." 

Kisumi blooms with elation. He feels like he's been dragged through the mud and crushed under a stampede of water buffalo, but getting to go to Haru's is a sliver of sunlight through the storm. His coordination is off and that makes going up the stairs a difficult task, but Haru helps him and leads him inside. He's never been in Haru's house before. 

Before he can study it properly, another bout of coughing seizes his chest. Each one rips his throat raw. He sags against Haru feebly until it passes and then tries not to stumble as he gets his shoes off. He can't seem to get a grasp on his stamina and looking down makes him dizzier. He sways forward and Haru is quick to grab him by the shoulders and steady him again. 

Haru wordlessly leads Kisumi to the sofa and pushes him down onto the cushions. Kisumi shivers and holds himself. 

"You're an idiot," Haru admonishes flatly. "You shouldn't have been pushing yourself if you didn't feel well." 

"Why do you have to be so mean, Ha... _hah-schoo!"_

Haru gets a box of tissue from his bathroom and tosses it to Kisumi before ducking back down the hallway. Kisumi slips his mask off and blows his nose, laying his head back against the sofa. His exhaustion is really catching up to him now. He closes his eyes and stuffs the next cough that comes up into the tissue. He doesn't open them until Haru jostles his shoulder. 

"Lie down," he says and gestures to the futon he's just rolled out on the floor. 

Kisumi blinks at it slowly, something warm melting inside him like a marshmallow in hot chocolate. "You're really going to host me, Haru~?" 

"You look terrible," Haru tells him with no sugarcoating whatsoever. "And it's trash day. If I kick you out, someone might mistake you for garbage." 

Kisumi groans, scandalized. "You're too cruel." 

Haru just stares at him until he gets up and plods to the futon, sinking into it gratefully. Haru covers him up and presses his hand to his forehead once more. Kisumi tries to suppress it, but he has to wrench away to cough, his eyes squeezing tightly shut. He hears Haru rise to his feat and pad down the hall again and he wants to ask if he could have some water, but the coughs won't pause and Haru is gone anyway. 

With the hand that isn't catching his coughs, Kisumi pulls the blanket up higher. He's shaking again, he feels like there's liquid ice under his skin. Haru returns and kneels down beside him, a bottle of orange liquid in one hand and something small and narrow in the other that Kisumi can't distinguish before he sets it down on the table. 

"Sit up," says Haru. 

"But you just told me to lie down..." Sitting up would take effort Kisumi isn't willing to exert. 

"You can't swallow lying down." Haru sounds a bit impatient and for just a moment Kisumi wishfully thinks he's talking about swallowing _something else_ that'd he sit up, stand up, or spin on his head for the chance to taste, but then he realizes the orange liquid is medicine. It's not nearly as appealing, but it's still an unusually sweet gesture. He sits up as Haru opens it and fills a capful.

Kisumi takes it with a smile and butterflies in his chest. "This is nice of you, Haru."

"Yeah, well...All your coughing is loud and annoying." 

Kisumi winces and gulps down the medicine anyway. He lies back down and Haru picks up the thing Kisumi couldn't identify earlier—what he now sees is a thermometer—and holds it out to him. 

"Hang on...That's your thermometer?" 

Haru nods. 

"So you've used it before?" Kisumi sniffles. 

"Not recently. It's clean." 

Kisumi grins, swelling up with giddiness. "But you've still used it, so it's going to be like an indirect kiss~!"

Haru twitches. "If you really think that, then you're delirious." 

He shoves the instrument under Kisumi's tongue before Kisumi can reply. He has to pull it out prematurely when Kisumi starts coughing and slips it in once the fit passes. When it beeps, he slips it out again and frowns at it, his raven brows pinching together. 

"You don't have a cold," he mutters. 

"It's normal?" Kisumi is perplexed. How could it be normal? He feels like hell. 

"No." Kisumi thinks he sees worry glint in Haru's eyes, but maybe he's just imagining it. "It's too high to be just a cold." Haru shows him the thermometer's reading. 

_39.5ºC_

Kisumi winces. "Oh..." 

Haru sighs and sets it down. "I should call Makoto." 

Oh hell no. Kisumi loves Makoto, the big, gorgeous puppy he is, but Makoto is also 50% of the reason why he has to struggle to get Haru alone. 

"Can I have some water?" he asks, both to quickly change the subject and because he feels another onset of coughs coming on. 

Haru nods and gets up. Kisumi watches his ass as he walks away, appreciating the shapely view before he collapses into the next tide of coughing. He's still in the thick of it when Haru comes back. Haru kneels next to him again and patiently waits until he's done hacking up his lungs before he hands him the glass of water. 

"Thanks," Kisumi rasps, taking a long drink. 

"Do you need anything else?" 

Kisumi stops, lowering the glass. For a moment he thinks he imagined the question but Haru is looking at him expectantly, so he must've really asked. Haru sure is being attentive...Huh...He'll try to push his luck. 

"I've got the chills," he murmurs slowly. "Maybe you could share your body heat with me." He scoots a bit to the side and pats the futon. 

Haru opens his mouth and closes it again, giving Kisumi an unamused stare. He takes the glass out of Kisumi's hands and dumps it out over his head. Kisumi yelps and shudders as it trickles down the back of his neck. 

"You could've just said no, Haru, jeez!" 

"That might cool your fever," Haru replies tonelessly. 

Kisumi almost argues some more, when the nausea he was feeling earlier comes back on in a sudden, dizzying force. He doesn't have time to do anything but clamp his hands over his mouth as the vomit comes up. He chokes on it and sputters, his throat burning. Some leaks through his fingers and splashes the blanket, and more gets on his shirt when he has to cough. 

Haru gapes at him, his eyes wide. Kisumi winces, all shades of mortified. "I'm sorry."

Haru sighs heavily. He grabs the blanket and stands up, padding down he hall. The chill bites Kisumi that much harder without its protection. He trembles and closes his eyes so he doesn't have to look at the mess in his hands, his stomach already twisting with disgust and threatening to expel whatever is left inside.

He opens his eyes when he hears Haru pad back into the room. Haru doesn't say anything as he crouches before Kisumi and towels his hands off. 

"I'm sorry," Kisumi croaks again, appalled. 

Haru also wipes his mouth off, not particularly expressive. "Go get cleaned up in the bathroom. I'll wash your shirt. Makoto left some clothes here that will probably fit you." 

Kisumi nods and pulls himself to his feet, plodding down to Haru's bathroom. Haru takes his shirt while he washes his hands and cleans up his face. Chills run up his spine and leave him shaking and hugging himself. Another coughing fit sneaks up on him. He's still hacking up a lung when Haru comes back with clean, apparently Makoto's clothes. He waits until the fit passes to put them on and then stumbles back to the living room. 

Kisumi lies back down on the futon and rolls onto his side, shivering. The coughing starts up again, rattling around in his chest relentlessly and it'd probably be beneficial to sit up, but he can't find the energy. He doesn't hear Haru leave the room over the sounds of his own struggling breath, but suddenly there's a blanket getting draped over him, then another after that. Kisumi wants to acknowledge this, but he can't stop coughing. 

"I'm sure the medicine will kick in soon," says Haru. He begins rubbing Kisumi's back through the blankets and continues until the fit dwindles down. 

Kisumi takes comfort in his touch and cocoons himself under the covers, closing his eyes. 

He's not sure how long he lies there, just feeling terrible, before he dozes off. Well, he kind of dozes off. He doesn't actually fall asleep. It's this shallow, uneasy semi-awake-semi-not blackness, interrupted by spates of coughing that are thankfully starting to weaken. The cool softness of Haru's hand on his cheek makes him open his eyes. 

"I should get you a cold compress." Haru starts to get up yet again and Kisumi reaches out and catches him by the sleeve. 

"Stay," he mumbles. 

Haru frowns. "It'll only take a minute. You're still hot, we need to cool you down."

Kisumi blinks, vaguely realizing that Haru just called him hot. Which he is, of course. He works out rigorously, he showers every day with the best strawberry wash and volumizing shampoo. He's always wanted Haru to notice how hot he was, but now the context is entirely different. But wait...

"Are you worried about me?" 

"You're being quiet," says Haru, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're a lot of things, Kisumi, and quiet isn't one of them." 

Kisumi wants to argue that that isn't an answer, but then he realizes that it is. He smiles apologetically and lets go of Haru's sleeve. Haru gets up again and Kisumi feels a lot like he's being fussed over. Being fussed over by Haru, of all people, and that's an amazing accomplishment. He can't enjoy it all that much though, not when he really feels like he's circling the drain. 

Just what did he manage to come down with? He's glad he's not at home. The last thing he would want is to pass it on to Hayato. His poor, precious baby brother was already getting over a frightening ice-skating experience. He should've been watching him, damn it. He knew the ice got thinner toward the middle of the lake. This was just as bad as the boat incident...

Haru pads back into view with a bowl in his hand. He gingerly sets it on the table and sits next to Kisumi, dunking in a washcloth and wringing the water out. He smooths Kisumi's bangs back and places the cloth on his forehead. It takes Kisumi a moment to adjust and then it feels nice. The coolness is a comfort to his headache and maybe it does help to alleviate the wildfire under his skin. 

He tries to keep his eyes open, but the lids droop heavily. His nose is running again and he sniffles to keep the snot at bay. Something soft brushes his upper lip and he blinks his eyes open blearily, surprised to see Haru's wiped it off with a clean tissue. It makes him feel a little awkward, but Haru's expression is just as impassive as it was earlier so he must not find Kisumi as gross as he feels. 

"Thank you," he croaks. 

"You owe me laundry detergent," Haru says.

"I'd be happy to take you shopping." Kisumi smiles and lets his eyes close again. 

"You sound as terrible as you look," Haru comments lightly.

That's not a refusal exactly, so Kisumi takes it as a yes. 

Being sick has sucked the energy right out of him. He's exhausted, his body hurts and thinking hurts, but Haru's made him as comfortable as possible. Even though it takes awhile, he eventually falls asleep. 

Haru rouses him off and on to make him sip more water so he doesn't get dehydrated, gently supporting him with a hand on his back. 

* * *

When Kisumi really wakes up, he's damp with sweat, stifled and hot. He groans as he kicks the covers off and sits. 

"How do you feel?" Haru asks. He's sitting on the sofa, peering at Kisumi over a Nintendo 3DS.

"Crappy," he answers honestly. "But better than earlier, I think...What time is it?" 

 "7:30. I made miso soup if you're feeling up to eating." 

Kisumi takes a moment to assess himself. He doesn't exactly feel hungry, but he doesn't feel queasy anymore either.

"Will you feed me, Haru~?"  

"You're well enough to feed yourself," Haru huffs softly. 

"I don't think so," Kisumi moans, dramatically collapsing back to the futon. "I feel terrible. This might even be the end of me." 

"Didn't you just say you were feeling better than you did earlier?" 

"I was just trying to be stoic. Please feed me, Haru," begs Kisumi, sniffling both for effect and because his nose is dribbling again. "It's my last request." 

"You're not dying, quit being stupid." Haru is as monotone as ever. 

"But we used to feed each other in middle school all the time. Don't you remember how fun it was?"

Haru's eye twitches. "It wasn't all the time. Or fun." 

Kisumi flinches. Normally he's accustomed to Haru's candid coolness, but that one stung. Maybe it's his own fault for prizing childhood memories in such sentiment. He lays the back of his arm over his eyes and swallows. He doesn't move for a few minutes and when he does, Haru is frowning at him. 

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. "I'm actually not feeling that hungry." 

"Have you eaten anything today?" 

Kisumi shakes his head honestly. 

"Then you have to have something." 

"My stomach hurts." Not just because he's ill. But he doesn't have the words to tell Haru how he feels and even if he did, Haru doesn't feel the same way. Haru won't _ever_ feel the same way. 

"But you'd eat if I fed you?" Haru's brows lift just a fraction and he kind of tilts his head, giving Kisumi a look of mixed frustration and bemusement. 

"You take me too seriously, Haru. I was only kidding." Kisumi fakes a laugh that turns into a real cough and turns his face to smother it into the pillow. 

Haru crawls over and helps him sit up to get in another drink of water. 

"Thanks," Kisumi says when he gets his breath back.

"Thank me properly by eating something." Haru crosses his arms. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to refuse when a host cooks for you?" 

 Kisumi inclines his head. "Ah, you're right. I'll have a bowl."

He starts to get up, but Haru takes him by his shoulders and sits him back down. "You still don't look so good. I'll bring it to you. Anyway, I don't want your germs all over my kitchen." 

Haru rises and shuffles to the kitchen, and Kisumi indulges in the view of his ass yet again. It's rare that he has such a convenient spot to spectate from and it's such a great ass. He could spend all day gazing at it. 

The soup is warm and soothes his throat as it slides down, even if he can't taste it very well.  "Thank you." 

Haru nods and sits back down on the couch, picking up the 3DS again. 

Kisumi peeks at him while he eats. "What are you playing?" 

"Ecco the Dolphin." 

"Can I play with you?" 

"It's not a two-player game. Besides, you're still eating."

"Aww, can I watch you then?" Kisumi pouts and bats his eyelashes. Such a thing has unfortunately never been effective in attracting Haru, but sometimes it annoys him enough that he'll give into Kisumi's demands just to get him to stop. 

Now is one of those times. Haru sighs and gets up, padding across the carpet and taking a seat on the floor next to Kisumi. He once again lets Kisumi lean against his shoulder and he wants so, so much more than that, but he's accepted he isn't going to get it and he appreciates this, he appreciates everything Haru has done for him today. 

He may not feel much better than garbage, but the evening rolls out tranquilly and there's no one he'd rather spend it with. 


End file.
